Hurlshort

No need to apologize, this thread was merely resting. I'm not sure about multiplayer though. I did play Deadly Games with a buddy back in the day, but my time with JA2 is almost more of a spiritual fulfillment, and it might be spoiled by another party.

Surprisingly agreeing with Volourn here. Seems the only point of bringing up God is to offend those who do believe in him.

I'm still confused what, exactly, atheists are advertising for. Are there going to be atheist meetings and they want people to attend? What services does this group offer? Whatever your opinion on God and religion, you should be able to see that churches provide a service to a community. If you had an atheist organization getting together and running soup kitchens, clothing drives for the homeless, day care for children, and numerous other community services, I might be a bit more understanding about an advertising campaign.

Um, what? A church is only as strong as its congregation. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but you make it sound like churches just get free money from he government. They get serious tax breaks, but they have to raise money in order to get the tax break on it. The state doesn't just give money to every guy with a bible and a pulpit.

I'm confused how this is an advertisement at all. What exactly is the goal of this campaign? I understand why churches advertise. They are trying to get people to attend their business. I have no idea what atheists are trying to achieve by advertising.

Sweeeeeeet. Oddly enough, I started reading Cornwell's series on the Civil War, and I really don't like it. I got through the first book, but it was hard and I stalled in the second book. I think it's just the subject matter. It's hard for me to sympathize too much with a Southern soldier in the civil war, especially one who is actually a northerner and isn't really defending his own land. I think I'm far enough removed from Saxons and Britons to not be disturbed by it, I suppose. I've read almost every other book by Cornwell and loved them (Sharpe series, Holy Grail quest, King Arthur story, Gallows Thief, and Alfred the Great) so it was a bit surprising. I might try his revolutionary war book.

Then get to it! Just make sure you implement a Jagged Alliance style combat engine. It's the key component, particularly if you do a Shadowrun game. Trust me.

I just don't think Card is all that good when he isn't writing action stuff. Stephen R. Lawhead puts an incredible amount of religion into his fantasy/scifi stuff, but I always enjoyed reading it. He keeps it interesting and works it into the plots in a natural way. At least that was always my impression.

Ender's Game is followed by Speaker for the Dead and Xenosaga, I think. I enjoyed Speaker for the dead, but Xenosaga disn't pull me in at all. He also gets more religious as his storylines progress. Ender's Shadow is an alternate storyline that takes place after Ender's Game (sort of, lots of flashbacks), focused around the little kid in his squad. I really enjoyed it. I think there were more in this vein, but I haven't read them.

Sword fights? Like after you're done peeing? Gay, dude. Totally gay. The point is you fight while peeing...nevermind, I've said too much already.

A piece of paper is easier to cloak than a Basilisk.

I was under the impression that, much like Age of Conan, WAR is hemorrhaging subscribers. I know they are doing a ton of server mergers. Maybe they have a better business plan than the AoC crew and can handle the subscriber drop, I'm not sure.

I can't even find Storms of Zehir in the stores. I've looked in Best Buy, Target, and a couple Gamestops. I don't think this is because they are selling out either, I think it's just not being given much shelf space as a second expansion.

No. They invested 800 millions into Bioware-Pandemic (the talent, the infrastructure, the assets) plus all properties owned by these two. You can argue whether that was a good deal or not, but for some reason, Johnny Riccitello thought it was. Not our problem, not Bioware's problem. QFT. This is a long term investment for EA. They don't expect to make 800 million off one or two titles with this relationship. I'd guess EA expects to have made that 800 million back around the time KotOR online hits. I'd be more interested in hearing what EA will do to Mythic, since Warhammer Online seems to have stalled out pretty hard after its launch. That will be a good indicator of how they will handle Bioware down the line if the bleep hits the fan.

Is that like when I got married, I stopped existing as an individual? So are all the other MMO's on the market dead? EQ2 and LotR Online have been very successful in the supposed shadow of WoW. Given that the game is years away from release, I'd say it's a bit early to write an obituary. There you go, one reasonable comment followed by an unreasonable one. Pandemic hasn't done well with its last two releases and that's why they are facing cuts. But Bioware hasn't had any bad releases lately. ME sold very well. They will face some economic hardships, like everybody in the entire world right now, but that has little to do with EA. It doesn't matter that you think they are not "on form", it only matter that they are meeting sales goals.

It's surprising to see how the Rangers handled both Jagr and Shanny, but it's hard to argue with the results they are getting.

It's good to see a guy who clearly just want to play the game and aren't looking to just grab money. You really only see that in Hockey. Roenick is in a similar situation, future HoFer, but he's had to adapt to his age. Both of these guys can help in the locker room bringing along the younger players, and occasionally they have a fantastic game like the good old days. Win win for the clubs, really. I thought the Rangers were pretty much at the salary cap?

I'm not so sure of that, buck-o. Anyhow, any ideas? Mass Effect or Left4dead? You clowns can be funny, but you're not so bad at suggesting decent games. That really depends on what you want, excellent single player adventure or excellent team based zombie rumble.

Actually I remember playing NWN and Morrowind on the same day and only one of those games awed me with the graphics. It wasn't the Bioware one. But NWN was built with an incredible engine, one that blossomed over time. But the original campaign didn't look all that great when compared to the eye candy that was a sandstorm in Morrowind.

It's not that I think they should get paid a second time, it's that I don't think the game store should be making such an immense profit off of the resale. I'd be happier to see some sort of limit on second hand game prices. But I guess that's all about supply and demand. This also comes down to consumer education. If I buy a used car, I'm looking it up on Blue Book and figuring out what I should be paying. I'm not going to take the sticker price of the dealer, because they have marked it up over what they bought it for ridiculously. We don't have that option in a game store, we are expected to follow their guidelines. I never buy a used game unless it is significantly cheaper than the new copy (or the new is unavailable.) I'd rather spend the extra $10 to support the publisher/developer in a more direct fashion. And I like the new game smell.

I doubt the rental market is as much of a concern from a business standpoint, since companies like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are buying large quantities of games to rent out, helping to meet sales goals. I can see both sides of the secondhand argument. On one hand, you own the game, finish it, and should be able to trade it in for cash or towards the purchase of another game. I expect most folks trade in for credit towards new titles, which makes it economically helpful for everyone involved. However, most stores sell secondhand copies of newer titles for like $10 cheaper than a new game. That's a bit of a slap in the face for the developers and publishers. Game stores are making a huge profit, customers are saving a tiny amount, and the companies are left out of the loop entirely.

Great link, Wombat. That was very informative, particularly the part where it was stated more risks can be taken on an expansion than a full title.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=5737 Best hockey name since Tony Twist!

After watching Step Brothers, I was immensely relieved that I'm not the only one who has sword fights with my friends.